JIMMY ZANOR: Moving Shoreline final to New Haven is step in right direction

Published
12:00 am EST, Friday, February 10, 2012

One of the best things I've heard so far this year -- besides the news that Bruce Springsteen and the E Street Band are going on tour again, and Magic-Bird is opening on Broadway this spring -- is that the Shoreline Conference boys' basketball championship game is going to be played in a bigger venue.

Hallelujah!

After last year's fiasco, when an overflowing, capacity crowd jammed into the gymnasium at Old Saybrook High School, leaving an estimated 150 fans outside in the cold -- all of whom missed a game for the ages as underdog Lyme-Old Lyme upset Valley Regional, 63-61, in overtime -- it seems that common sense has prevailed.

This year's SLC title game will take place at Hillhouse's New Haven Athletic Center on Friday, March 2. The facility continues to host state track and wrestling tournaments and although having the SLC tournament finals in New Haven for the first time will certainly have its detractors ...yes, there are pros and cons ... this is a huge step for the Shoreline Conference. This is Springsteen going from the Stone Pony and the Bottom Line to Madison Square Garden.

No gym in the Shoreline Conference is big enough to host what has become THE game on the calendar. I'm not sure if it's a social media thing or the addition over the years of Hyde, Cromwell, Portland and East Hampton, but the crowds for the SLC boys' championship games have been standing-room-only affairs for some time now. And the athletic directors who hosted these games -- whether it was Dick Dupuis at Haddam-Killingworth, Ted Lombardo at Coginchaug or Patt Burke at Old Saybrook -- always did a heroic job in the crowd control department. (I recall the presence of police dogs for the 2005 final between Morgan and Old Saybrook at the H-K Field House).

My guess (wink, wink...) is there was someone very important, someone with a certain cache of power, who was stewing in the parking lot when George Logan was shooting Old Lyme past Valley Regional in last year's memorable upset.

The only "con" to playing in New Haven, besides the longer commute, might be the atmosphere. During last year's championship game I sat behind the Old Lyme bench next to Wildcats girls' basketball coach Don Bugbee and we couldn't hear each other speak. The crowd noise was deafening from start to finish. It was a fun, electric atmosphere that I doubt will be duplicated at Hillhouse.

The championship match-up also plays a role in the attendance and this year's final could be a semi-home game for Hyde if the Howling Wolves can navigate through a tournament that is shaping up as "wide-open." The top eight teams will meet in the quarterfinals on Saturday, Feb. 25 at the site of the higher seeds. Cromwell, Haddam-Killingworth, Coginchaug and Valley Regional are in a dogfight for the No. 1 seed. Old Saybrook, Hyde and Old Lyme have the No. 5-6-7 seeds pretty much locked up, while Hale-Ray and East Hampton will battle for the No. 8 spot.

The tourney semifinals will take place on Tuesday, Feb 28, also at the site of the higher seeds. I'd love someday to see the semifinals moved to a neutral site and played as part of a doubleheader (like the SLC girls' basketball tournament). But I know the boys' coaches are still opposed to this idea. They earned the higher seed during a hard-fought regular season and want to be rewarded with a home game. A few years ago, however, the Southern Connecticut Conference moved their boys' and girls' basketball tournament semifinals and championship games to Quinnipiac's gorgeous, new TD Bank Sports Center. It was a brilliant move.

I can't wait for this year's SLC championship game. The move to New Haven is a step in the right direction. And if, for some reason, things don't seem to work out at Hillhouse, there's always Wesleyan University.

Because once you've made it big, it's hard to go back.

SHORELINE GIRLS

The Shoreline Conference girls' basketball quarterfinals will take place on Saturday, Feb. 18. Unlike the boys' tourney, the girls' participants are all the teams who have won eight games and qualified for the state tournament. Currently, those teams are defending SLC champion Coginchaug, Cromwell, Portland, Old Saybrook, Hyde, Morgan and Haddam-Killingworth.

The semifinal doubleheader, which is being moved from Coginchaug this year, will take place on Tuesday, Feb. 21. The championship game is Friday, Feb. 24.

Although it's not official, I've heard that the semifinals and finals will be played at the Hale-Ray Middle School. I can understand not giving Coginchaug the home-court advantage again this year but the Durham school, and host Ted Lombardo, has been the perfect spot for the SLC girls' Final Four.